Customer Reviews

Apex AD-800 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I bought one from Sams Club last Christmas. I loved it, but it had some quirks. Took the first one back, and got another one with identical quirks. After many frustrating moments with it i finally found a site that had an unauthorized update for the firmware that worked WONDERS for this machine. Although not perfect, it fixed most of the quirks (upside of a Flash Upgrade):
1. SVCD's didn't always work right now work almost perfectly (a few skips, and stalls, but will work most of the time - I believe this is due to the media, and not the machine, or possibly the burning software).
2. DTS audio CD's didn't play in DTS, now work correctly.
3. No more high-pitched squeaks when drop-outs occur.
4. ALL functions still work correctly with Apex AD-600A remote.
Current Problems (on the downside):
1. Someone mentioned that they had red lines on the front display: So do I! Not sure what it is caused by.
2. Some disks will say Error! Replace me. But will eventually work. I believe this is a problem of the dye, as it appears to be caused by certain Brand CD-R's and DVD-R's (DVD-RW, and CD-RW work too!! I have a DVD-R/RW - CD-R/RW burner in one - Pioneer A03 so I could test these formats).
3. Had to wipe out the original firmware for a Hiteker software package that disabled the remote. But my Apex AD-600A remote works beautifully now with my AD-800! All functions are capable from remote, (albeit not exactly as originally designed for the AD-800). By the way. Someone said it didn't have a fast-forward/backward mode. IT DOES! press the forward button ( the big button on the right (or the left for reverse), and hold for a second or so. FAST Forward or Fast Reverse! Voila!! Zoom in and out is AWESOME! This player has MANY great options for the money!!
4. Apex support is totally non-responsive to inquiries, so don't count on any help there. On-line (internet) help is abundant though...The player is still a great buy if it is still available! Remember this: Progressive Scan...

This is the most bang for the buck on the market now, it plays
every disc format, something many more expensive machines don't
offer and the software is firmware upgradable and it has all the bells and whistles of the expensive players. The only down side is the remote is a little clumsy to use and the warranty is only 90 days on the labor. ...

My new APEX AD-800 provided good picture and sound on DVDs, but could not read half of my VCDs (commercially produced VCDs). I think the laser is out of alignment.

I found the unit to be very user-unfriendly. The remote control is poorly laid out, and performing a simple fast forward/reverse task is painful. The unit does not automatically switch between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio (wheras my Panasonic does), so I have to manually set the aspect ratio each time I switch from a widescreen DVD to a VCD or a 4:3 DVD. I have read reviews that tout the AD-800 as a great toy for a technical person due to its many user-adjustable parameter settings. But I think the unit had so many user-adjustable parameters because it lacks the intelligence to set them automatically.

The Karaoke function is very limited, as it has no ability to adjust the key and no vocal assist function. I had high hopes for the AD-800 due to its many advertised features, but I am quite disappointed by the poor quality control and user-unfriendliness.

Absolutely no problems for the first 6 months. It worked beautifully. One day, for no apparent reason, red lines appeared in the display window, and now the DVD player cannot read the disc. I contacted APEX, to no solution. They told me I had to ship it back in its original box (which I don't have), at my cost, and probably the problem wouldn't be under warranty. All this after being on hold for 20 minutes during a long distance phone call (No 1-800 #). It really discourages me from buying APEX and especially buying on-line.

I bought this unit the day after Christmas. I have since spent many hours in front of it. Besides playing almost every format of disc known, it is firmware upgradable, so it will likely keep pace with new formats as they become available. One reviewer said that it was not user-friendly. Do not confuse a great degree of user-selectable preferences as being complicated. Novice users can play it right out of the box, but power users will find it ultimately enjoyable. Plus, with Progressive Scan, I will be able to use this player even after I upgrade to a digital TV! And the price speaks for itself. APEX is breaking new ground by offering high end products at K-Mart prices. Keep up the good work!

No, I dont work at Apex, but I have to say this is the BEST player I have EVER used, considering the price. I got it for christmas and must have watched atleast 50 DVDs on it by now. Its no different now that it was when i got it. Very easy to setup and great picture/sound quality. Also, this player just feels solid, and the door gives a nice solid sound when you close it.

Lots of people complain about skipping and "Clean Me" messages. Well I got "clean me" ONCE when viewing a USED DVD i bought off of eBay. I cleaned the disc with some alcohol and never had that probelm again! I tried a lot of the movies that "test" the performance of a DVD player and I couldn't notice a frame-skip or other errors once. Also, the SVCD play back is great! Lots of my friends have very expensive Sony and Pioneer DVD players that look flashy and cost ... but they can't even play SVCDS or MP3 Cds.

This might not be a great player if you don't like to take care of your electronics and beat the hell out of them, or if you have kids that use DVDs as frisbees. But for me, just keeping it clean and not abusing it has worked perfectly.

I had my eyes on brand name DVD players but after read reviews on amazon.com I decided to get this one. Nothing disappointed me yet. I have lots of my home-made VCDs in PAL signal and it plays them all without any difficulties. Amazing how it plays a normal MP3 disk with a list of songs from different folders on the TV screen and you can turn it into a Karaoke session. Easy plug, load, and play, many kinds of connections to choose from with all the cables, although the manual is quite bad with very few details, this might be that you needn't to do much to operate the machine. I tested it with NTSC, PAL DVDs and VCDs, no problems at all, nice for money.

I was apprehensive about purchasing this player after reading some bad reviews, but bought it anyway and am extremely happy with it. If you want a DVD player that plays any kind of CD-R, DVD-R, etc., this is the model for you. It plays ANYTHING you throw at it, it could probably even play a old record (kidding). The quality is much better than the older Apex products, but there are some sharp screws on the bottom of the unit. Stay away from Sony if you want it to play CD-R's or homemade Video CD's. They don't like these discs!

Absolutely fabulous player at a great price! Bought a second player for the guest room and will buy one for my brother this christmas! You can't find a dvd player that supports MP3, dolby decoding, and also progressive scan at this price. Many thanks!!

The MP3 support was very disappointing. It displays a list of all the mp3 files on your disc and you can navigate the list with the arrow buttons (very slowly) and start playing at a particular song. As far as I can tell, there's no way to tell it to play the songs randomly. Even worse, the song list stays on the screen the whole time it's playing. This makes it pretty much worthless for projection TV's which are prone to burn-in.

There's also a strange problem with the video that I believe is the fault of the player and not my TV (a new Mitsubishi 55 inch wide-screen HDTV (#55809)). When displaying a movie, it appears the picture is zoomed in a little too much, resulting in 5-10% of the picture being cut off on all 4 edges. The only way to tell is to use the panning-and-scaling menus on the DVD player. Now, whenever I start watching a movie, I first have to pan and scale it until the whole picture is displayed.

The unit is also quite large. I don't understand why they can make portable DVD players not much bigger than a walkman but most of the DVD players are still the size of VCRs from 15 years ago.

CON :
Poor MP3 support
Possible screen burn-in while listening to MP3's
Picture zoomed in too much
Large

PRO :
Cheap
Has Progressive output